Nightmare
by artyfan
Summary: In one day, all the worst things that he could imagine happened. It was not a nightmare.


**Hi, guys. This story isn't the best, but I've been having the urge to write. School's over for break, I'm celebrating. Read and review? My stories are being neglected a bit right now. I have some with no reviews at all.**

_No. _It couldn't be. It was impossible. But it had happened, all the same.

Sirius let out a wordless yell. This had to be some kind of nightmare. His best friend was dead. James Potter and his wife were both dead. Their son still lived. It was that boy, barely a year old that made it possible for him to think about anything other than revenge on the filthy traitor that James and Lily had trusted with their lives.

Sirius mounted his motorbike, his face frozen. Peter Pettigrew. Wormtail. No wonder his Animagus form was a rat. He was one. He had betrayed his friends for Lord Voldemort. The coward had never been able to voice the wizard's name.

He should have died for his friends, like they would have died for him. Sirius would have. How could he have been so stupid to allow Wormtail to be the Potters' Secret Keeper? He should have known Remus wouldn't have been the spy. It had been Wormtail the whole time, weak, cowardly Wormtail.

Sirius was flying now, faster than what was probably safe. He didn't care. He was going top Godric's Hollow to get Harry, and after that, he would go track down the traitorous scum he had once called a friend.

* * *

><p>"I'm his godfather, Hagrid," Sirius snapped. "Give Harry to me, I'll take care of him."<p>

"Sirius, Harry's gotta go to his aunt an' uncle. Dumbledore said so," Hagrid rumbled. Tears were leaking out of his eyes and into his tangled beard. The sight of Hagrid crying nearly made Sirius break down. As it was, tears sprang to his eyes.

"James," he whispered. "Lily. I can't believe it. It's not possible."

"None of us woulda expected it. Dumbledore says Harry's gotta go to his aunt an' uncle, though, Sirius," Hagrid sympathized, patting Sirius on the shoulder. "Let me tell yeh what. Hold Harry for a bit. Looks just like James, doesn' he?"

Sirius took the baby into his arms. Harry's eyes were closed. Above them, in the centre of his forehead, was a thin scar in the shape of a lightning bolt. He traced that scar with the tip of his finger, willing him to open his eyes so he could catch the final glimpse of the eyes he knew were as green as Lily's.

He slowly became aware that he was shaking. Hagrid patted him on the back, forcing the air our of his lungs, then took Harry out of Sirius's arms. Sirius let out a moan like a wounded dog.

"Hagrid...he's all that's left of _them._" He said it in a whisper, so quietly Hagrid didn't hear him. It wouldn't have mattered. Hagrid couldn't do anything Dumbledore had told him not to do. Louder, he offered, "Take my motorbike, Hagrid. You'll get there faster...I won't be needing it now."

"Are yeh sure?" Hagrid asked dubiously. Sirius understood. He had always loved that bike. He nodded. "Well, then, thanks."

Sirius watched as Hagrid struggled with the bike for a few moments. Then he took off, soaring into the night sky, taking Harry to a family who hated his kind.

Sirius couldn't tear his gaze. He watched until he could see no more, then he turned and began to run.

He had a rat to find.

* * *

><p>"How could you, Sirius?" Wormtail screamed the query at him. "You killed them! You killed Lily and James!"<p>

Muggles on the crowded street were turning to watch. Sirius didn't notice. Wormtail's words had caused a burning _fury _to rise in his blood. Now he was denying it?

Before he knew it, his wand was out, and Pettigrew's as well. He had always been hopeless at duelling...

Sirius jabbed his wand violently in his former friend's direction.

Something exploded.

Sirius hadn't expected that. He certainly hadn't intended it. But his magic had always been more powerful, more volatile, when he was angry. And he was more furious then than he had ever been hin his life.

The debris settled slowly. Wormtail was gone.

Sirius Black threw back his head and laughed, the laugh of a crazed madman.

People around him were screaming, running away from him. He continued laughing. He didn't stop, even when the Aurors came to arrest him.

The rat was dead.


End file.
